From: Natsuki Subaru Re:Zero
by TheRealEvanSG
Summary: When teenage shut-in Natsuki Subaru gets suddenly pulled into another world, he must fight against Fate herself to save his new friends, as well as the love of his life. Luckily, he has two unique powers to help him: the ability to Restart From Death... and to see into the future each time. Now, nothing can stop him from saving his friends! He is, after all, fanatical like a demon.
1. Starting Life in Another World

**Warning:** Extreme mind-fuckery is involved. Of course, this being a written form of Re:Zero, I doubt anyone really expected anything different.

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Chapter 1: Starting Life in Another World

Dying isn't fun.

Yeah, yeah, I know what you're saying. _Natsuki Subaru, how can you possibly know what dying feels like if you're sitting here, telling me this story?_ And honestly, I can understand why you would say that. Until the day I decided to not get natto at that convenience store off of East Avenue, I wouldn't have believed me either. But it's the truth. Dying is probably my least favorite thing to do, and having been a proud shut-in on Earth, there's a hell of a lot of things I don't like to do, so I know what I'm talking about here!

Trust me on this: You do _not_ want to die. It hurts greater than any pain you can dare to imagine. You feel weightless, like you're floating in deep space, and emptier than a vacuum. Then there's the absolutely horrible sensation that you're an iceberg; your whole being frozen, drifting about aimlessly. And you will never feel more alone than you do when you die.

Until about a year ago, I hadn't known what death feels like. Well, okay, I say a year, but I honestly have no clue how this world's time compares to Earth. I wasn't wearing any watches when I crossed over, and my phone was dead, so I'd left that charging in my - -

Emilia-tan's telling me I'm getting sidetracked. Sorry!

Anyway, supposing that Earth time runs parallel to time in this world, my whole story started about a year ago.

Have you ever been to Tokyo? It's a really amazing city! For most people, anyway. I never liked it very much. All the high-rising buildings, the cramped houses, the sky crushing down on you... everything felt suffocating to me. Maybe that was why I almost always stayed at home if I could help it. Playing video games, reading manga, and watching old samurai movies were the only things those days that made me feel free, like I could do anything. In the city, I was trapped, just another lonely pedestrian in an endless sea of pedestrians. In my fantasies, I was Captain Subaru, sailing around the world, fanatical like a demon!

But there comes a time in every shut-in's life when he must brave the dangers lying in wait outside his door, when he must crawl through the urban jungle in search of the cheapest food. And thus I found myself in the convenience store down the road from my apartment that fateful Saturday, shifting through day-old ramen cups and _natto_ bags in Aisle 2.

It was much too bright in the convenience store. I, Natsuki Subaru, proud shut-in, dare not hang around in artificial light too often, for I know the risks of it melting your skin! Humanity can exist only in mostly-full darkness, preferably with the soft glow of the TV shining in the corner of the room!

And yet my stomach was rumbling. I had to worry about food first. Skin-melting artificial light could be avoided later.

"Hm... which is easier to prepare, cup ramen or _natto_?" I mused, eyeing the foods in question pointedly. I picked up a bag of the latter and turned it around, reading the cooking instructions. "Uh... this says it only takes a minute to warm up in the microwave... I dunno if I really want beans, though..."

I put the _natto_ bag back on the shelf, comparing the two foods. Humming a soundtrack from _Fire Emblem: Fates_ , I tapped my foot as I mulled over my options.

Eh, screw it. A minute of microwaving compared to the cup ramen's two meant one more minute I could be grinding for exp levels.

I reached for the _natto_ again, but just as I touched the bag, my vision went murky, like I was in a dark room. My body keeled forward, and I struck a boarded floor lifelessly. My heart pounded in fear and confusion. What the hell was going on? I blinked, and suddenly I was back in the convenience store, staring dumbstruck at my _natto,_ panting like the winner of a marathon.

 _What... the hell.. was that..._

I shook my head, flabbergasted at the strange experience I'd just gone through. "Alright, then," I said, a strange, cold feeling settling in my gut, "definitely not _natto_." I selected the closest ramen cup and started walking to the cash register. The manga section was on the way, and I stopped by curiously, wondering if the latest volume of my new favorite series was out yet. I leafed through a few volumes of manga, searching for _My Hero Academia_.

My hand stopped on a manga I'd never read before, one of those sappy love stories.

Well, it couldn't hurt to take a look at it. Maybe laugh at stupid cliche plots.

I opened it and shuffled through its pages. I stopped at one panel I saw that was actually drawn pretty damn well; a girl reaching her hand out to a guy desperately holding onto the ledge of a roof. I snorted. "So this is where they suck you in, huh?" I guessed, rolling my eyes.

I began to walk off with the manga, but the strange vision-y thing from before happened again. I was back on that hardwood floor, motionless, the room wreathed in darkness. The pained squeak of a girl rose to my ears, and to my growing horror, the _thump_ of another body hitting the floor beside me. A limp arm rolled into my view.

Just as soon as the vision had appeared, it was gone again, and I was one more back in the convenience store, chest heaving eratically.

I threw the manga volume back on the shelf as though it were on fire and dashed for the cash register. _What the hell is wrong with me!?_ I thought, worried I was going insane. _I... I guess it's normal for someone who plays video games too much to... get blurry eyes_...

The cashier guy tilted his head at me curiously as I fumbled for money in my wallet. I brought out a coin and blinked as I saw what I'd selected. "Well, whaddya know, a grooved-edge ten." I tucked it back in my wallet and fished for more change. Those could be lucky! After I pulled out the appropriate amount - - 363 yen for one cup, what a rip off! - - I paid the cashier and accepted my receipt. I hurried to get out of the store. Maybe it was a trick of the damned artificial lighting. Surely I would stop seeing things under the pure night sky.

I walked across the parking lot and up to the street without a single vision taking up my sensations. I came to a stop in front of the busy street, waiting for a time to cross, and let out a breath.

"Alright, let's go home and play video games until you forget all about creepy visions in random convenience stores, Natsuki Subaru!" I laughed, relieved - - and then stopped short when blaring light suddenly filled my vision.

I blinked.

Blinked again.

 _What the hell is that goddamned light shining in my eyes_? I grumbled, furiously rubbing my eyes, and when I opened them again, what I saw made my blood run ice cold.

It wasn't night time. The buildings rising up around me weren't modern, but more medieval, the kind you'd imagine rich people in fantasy stories to live in. A cobblestone street ran beneath my feet instead of the white cement of a Tokyo sidewalk. And none of that was the weirdest part. No, the weird part was the pedestrians around me: Because to put it simply, there hadn't even _been_ any pedestrians around me the last I'd checked. Now, suddenly, the street was full of them, full of people of all shapes and kinds. And it wasn't just people, either. My surely insane eyes saw cat ears on that blue-haired girl coming out of that shop to the left, saw a freaking _lizard-man_ with a backpack, talking to what looked like a human-sized dog on two legs.

And that was just the tip of the iceberg.

My hand relaxed in shock, and my small bag of cheap food dropped to the ground.

In my complete and utter disbelief, I could only manage five words without completely fainting: "Where... the fuck... am I..."


	2. From Zero

Chapter 2: From Zero

Many emotions shot through my system as I took in the cliche medieval architecture, textbook semi-humanoids, and completely non-understandable writing on all of the signs for the various buildings. Prominently among them stood shock, confusion, shock, happiness, and did I mention shock?

For those of you who felt 'happiness' seems out of place for this kind of occurrence, let me put it to you like this.

The reason I always stayed at home and played video games all day is because I felt the real world was too _boring._ Not that I was lazy, or that I was socially inept. Well, okay, both of those are fairly true to some extent, but mostly, I was a NEET because I couldn't find any fun in a world where you were unable to do what you liked simply because of social standards. But now that I was most definitely not in Kansas anymore (I've always wanted to use that line!), those restraints felt completely lifted from my shoulders.

I mean, I was in an entirely different goddamn world! _Walking, talking, humanoid lizards crossed the cobblestone street right in front of me!_ What society-hating, fantasy-loving nerd _wouldn't_ be overjoyed by finding themselves in this situation?

"Okay, so time to test out which cliches are in play here and which aren't," I said to myself, nodding, once I shook myself out of the initial _wtf is going on_ fallback. First of said cliches was money. I still carried over some scrap change that my parents had supplied me with back on Ground Zero. The question here, though, was whether it was actually worth anything in this world. After all, depending on what motherfucker had gone and invented this place, either I could actually spend it, or I was flat broke. And I certainly did _not_ want to wait until I was through with my convenience store supplies and starving to find out that I couldn't actually buy food. That would be just plain stupid.

Excitement rising in my gut, I took my first step in this strange, unknown world and strolled off confidently to find the nearest street vendor.

Problem Number One: I had absolutely no idea where I was going.

This became evident the moment I entered the crowd. Back home, everyone at least had some semblance of order when walking down the street. Here, it was rather like becoming a single spray of foam in whitewater rapids. Everybody was going everywhere randomly, bumping into everyone and everything. There was absolutely no "right-side-of-the-street, left-side-of-the-street" order. I quickly lost all sense of direction as I whirled around one dog-man who almost ran me over, skirted around a gaggle of girls who giggled gratingly at me, and dodged a luggage-laden cart with a - - was that a _velociraptor_ pulling it!?

Finally, I blearily stumbled out of the stream of street-goers. The damn NPCs strolled past without sparing me a second glance.

I found myself on a _much_ calmer street, street vendors cropping out of the shadows of buildings everywhere. I grinned and bent over, before rapidly straightening back up and throwing my arms out in a v-shape above me. "VICTORY!" I cried... victoriously.

Hey, don't give me the Luigi Death Glare for that adverb! Creativity was never my strong suit.

Memes, though? ...I'm a shut-in. What exactly did you expect?

The street was fairly wide as far as streets go. I'd been in a crowded square before, so I hadn't quite been able to tell, but this was much more of a road, actually, than an alley. Dozens of carts raced up and down, all pulled by the same velociraptor-looking beasts that I'd caught sight of before. Briefly, I wondered what drugs whoever wrote up this RPG-worthy world was on when they had created this, and then the random person fell in front of one of the aforementioned carts.

Anxiety for the kid who'd fallen washed tangibly over the by-passers around me.

"Whoa, a quick-time event!" I gasped, my eyes widening. "If I've been given magic powers, which surely must exist here seeing all the weird semi-humanoids around me - -"

"WE'RE DEMIHUMANS, ASSHOLE!" someone shouted near me, in a tone that clearly conveyed anger.

I ignored the random shouter. "- - Then, clearly, this must be the moment in which I awaken them!" Excitement once again growing within me, I took the stance that a main character in one of my favorite video games used whenever he would cast magic - - I sank to one knee, threw me arms out horizontally, then thrust my right arm in front of me. "HAAAAAAAAH!" I roared.

...

Nothing happened.

Disappointment tugged at my lips as a classic knight in cliche armor rolled into the kid from nowhere, scooping him up and tumbling to safety with him. The cart rumbled past harmlessly. The crowd let out a collective sigh in relief and continued walking, chatting among themselves animatedly, even as I let out a sigh of exasperation.

"So I've been summoned into a parallel fantasy world at base form," I quipped, standing up, and heading back down the street, much more dejected than before, "without any magic to my name. Please at least let me be able to use my money..."

Let it be said that Murphy's law is a bitch.

"The hell kinda coins are these?" the seller of the fruit that looked like apples but also suspiciously unlike them asked, unimpressed. I'd picked out one of the vendors I saw - - this guy - - and showed him the small amount of yen I had on me. The big, burly fellow was dressed in a vest and fingerless gloves that looked like they were straight out of _Magi_ , or perhaps Toad's wardrobe. Green hair stuck out under the bandana around his head. He scoffed and made a shooing motion with his hand. "I don't need broke customers, kid."

"Alright," I said, frowning as I examined his wares with a suspicious eye, "but what exactly are these, if you don't mind me asking?"

He huffed impatiently. "They're appas, and I do mind, because you're broke. Now kindly get out of my face so I can get some customers whom I can actually sell things to."

I took a hint.

"Alright," I muttered to myself as I walked off dejectedly. "So I have no magic powers, no money, and no way to get a safe place to rest come nightfall. My only actual starting gear are some microwaveable food items, which I can't microwave since this is clearly a medieval world, and the clothes on my back. Perfect. I guess the only thing left to do is gather information." Feeling _much_ less happy about this new world, I winced as my stomach shifted uncomfortably. My eyes roamed up and down the street as I looked for anything that looked like a public bathroom.

Finally, I spotted something.

"Well, first things first, I have to use the john," I muttered, and maneuvered across the cobblestones to the bathroom-looking building. I heard the sounds of flushing chamber pots (at least, that's what I assumed, because that flushing sounded both alike and not alike toilets), and grinned. Something was finally going right for me here! It was time to turn over a new page in the book of luck!

Again, let it be said that Murphy's law is a bitch.

What I ended up walking into was _not_ a public bathroom, but a _girl's_ public bathroom. Also a slap on the face and several highly mortified screams. Most of which I probably deserved, in retrospect.

Grumbling to myself about Fate and cruel mistresses, I stomped over to the _other_ side of the building, and was rewarded with the male's restrooms. After sufficiently relieving myself and cleaning my hands, I set out to gather information.

I found the nearest bar and let myself in. After all, bars were the go-to place for intel in just about any RPG, right? I pushed through the crowd in the dimly lit building, and looked for someone who seemed like they would be willing to become my personal help kiosk. The only people who really stood out to me were the purple-haired girl in the white, official-looking cloak and the cute little orange-haired Neko sitting in the booth next to her. Both were sitting at the bar, waiting patiently for whatever it was they had ordered.

I sat down in an empty booth beside them, grinning confidently. "Y-Yo! Great weather we're having, eh? This is a really beautiful city, this... this... ah, I'm kinda tired today. The name escapes me at the moment."

The purple-haired girl looked up at me with a calculating gaze I hadn't expected from her. "How could you possibly forget this is Lugnica's Capitol? Are you a moron?"

I frowned. "I resent that! There's a difference between... between... not knowing where you woke up and being a moron!"

"You should've just asked if that was all you wanted to know," she said with an air of _I'm so better than you_. This girl was really getting on my nerves, and I didn't even know her name! "Is that all, or must you continue to interrupt my meal?"

I ground my teeth exasperatedly. This damn girl... "Would you happen to know how I can get some money here in L... Lu..." I faltered, unable to remember what she'd called this country. The purplette's voice calling me a moron rose in the back of my mind, before I promptly shoved it back in the far abyss of my thoughts. "...In the Capitol?"

"We've got no idea!" said the neko in such a cheerful tone that it made me wonder just what kind of casual life they lead.

The petite purplette rolled her eyes fondly, but elaborated. "What Mimi means is that we're here on official business. We don't actually live here."

My mouth opened in an _o_ of understanding. "Gotcha."

"You know... speaking of which, your clothes are strange," she said, raising her eyebrow. "Are you here for the Royal Election?"

"The what now?"

Mimi the Neko and her purple-haired friend both stared at me. "...You really are an idiot, aren't you?" said Mimi cheerfully, giggling uncontrollably as I sent her a hurt glare.

The purplette huffed. "Never mind, then. If you're not here for the Royal Election, and since you seem to not be needing any further help from me, spending any more time in this conversation would only waste time for the both of us."

"Fair point," I grumbled. "Bye, then."

"Bye, idiot!" said Mimi, and giggled as I swiped casually at her upon walking past. She dodged it easily, of course, and it only made her giggle all the harder.

I wandered out of the bar and into an alley, tired of the hustle and bustle of the main town. I needed some time to think for myself and get a good plan of action. Lost in another world which I had only just learnt the name of - - Lugnica - - without any money to my name, and no readily usable food, either, I was really in one heck of a rut, wasn't I? Perhaps getting some peace and quiet could allow me some time to do some thinking to change that.

I sighed in relief as I stepped into the shadows of the alley. The sun was hot today, and it had felt like it was liable to burn my skin. I hadn't thought to wear sunblock, seeing as how when all of this started, I'd only gone out for groceries and it had been past sundown.

Or at least, that was the plan until the three thugs of various weights and sizes swaggered up to me out of the shadows.

"Hey, kid, give us anything valuable you have," said the middle thug, a tall, gangly-limbed guy with silver hair.

The guy on my right, a square-jawed fellow with a surprisingly well-developed beer belly for a street thug, cracked his knuckles. "Hand it over quietly and no one has to get hurt," he said in a no-nonsense tone.

My patience was _really_ starting to wear thin now. "Okay, seriously!?" I ground out, stepping back nervously as I lifted my hands up protectively. "What the hell happened to Plot Armor, eh!? I was summoned into Lugnica, so clearly I should be the main character of this world and be granted divine protection from things like this! But nooo!"

"What the hell are you talking about, kid?" said the final thug with an annoyed huff. He was a runt of a man, who couldn't have come up to further than my knee. I mean, seriously, the guy couldn't have been over eight years old! "Just give us all your stuff and you can go," he sighed.

"LIKE ANYONE WOULD!" I roared, my exasperation through the roof. I planted my right foot and slammed my left leg into the midget's head, sending him crashing into the wall. My thigh grunted a bit under the unexpected thickness of the thug's skull, but I didn't have much time to pay attention to it. Sputtering indignantly, the midget's much larger friend - - the one with the beer belly - - charged at me, throwing a wide haymaker. I'd watched enough Indiana Jones, though, to know that this was the worst punch he could've thrown. I leaped backwards out of his arm's reach and narrowly avoided getting my face bashed in.

Growling in annoyance, he flung his other arm out to punch me, but I sidestepped that, too, and flung my own hands out to latch onto his forearm. Then I _twisted,_ and I'd never been more satisfied to hear a grown man howling in pain.

"Never underestimate the grip strength of a shut-in who needs to protect his house!" I spat with an evil grin. "Don't underestimate third-grade worthy attacks either!"

I pushed all my weight into throwing the big guy into the opposite alley wall as I'd kicked his midget buddy into.

"Man," I said after a thought, shaking my hands to relieve the slight burning I felt on my palms as a result of the skin twisting. "Didn't expect that to hurt _me_ , though."

"Why, you - -" said the silver haired guy, and he reached behind him to pull out... _something._ But before he could, footsteps echoed down the alleyway in front of me, and an unfamiliar girl's voice shouted at us. The thug froze.

"Hey, hey, hey, you guuuuuys!"

Before I quite knew how to react, the owner of the voice sprinted into view. She was a rather cute little girl, who despite her young-looking age and completely flat chest, wore next to nothing except shorts, a tan, open jacket, and something that looked like the foster child of a bra and a shirt.

"Move out of my way, you guys!" she barked, panting. "I'm in a hurry!"

I blinked.

I blinked again.

"A cute little girl running in my path while I'm getting attacked by street thugs..." I murmured, staring at her wide-eyed. "Would you happen to be the girl who summoned me to L - - Lu - - to the Capitol!?"

The girl slowed down a bit. "...What the hell are you talking about? Sorry, but I don't have a clue about any summoning. Live strong!"

And just as quickly as she had appeared, the girl was gone, her blonde hair rustling lightly as she took a leaf out of Mario's book and _wall jumped_ past me and the thugs.

I blinked.

The thug blinked.

"... So..." I said awkwardly, the tense moment completely shattered. "Um... do you want to get back to threatening to take my things, or has that in any way convinced you to let me go - -"

The silver-haired beanpole pulled a pair of knives from his back.

I don't think I need to tell you my thoughts on Murphy's law at this point.

All sense of fight fled me. Terrified at the knife, which I couldn't possibly fight back against - - I mean, come on, I wasn't even given Excalibur or anything! - - I knelt on both knees and bowed low to the ground, hoping that perhaps begging like a bitch would convince him to spare me. Terrified drabble spilled from my mouth, and I didn't even quite know what I was saying myself.

Whatever I was babbling incoherently, it didn't work. I immediately felt the hard sole of the thug's shoe drive into the back of my head, slamming my face into the ground. My nose snapped, blood spurting down my face. I screamed in pain, but before I could react, the bastard stomped on me again, this time aiming for my back. I heard rather than saw his comrades stumble back up and cursed - - my little stunt back there clearly hadn't been enough to keep them down for long. It wasn't long, of course, before three different feet all savagely kicked and stomped on me from all angles.

The only way I could describe it was pain. Sheer pain, humiliation, cowardice, weakness. I cried out and bit my tongue with the force of another stomp as a result. My entire body sore, my vision started fading, and I could feel myself begin to lose consciousness from the sheer pain. My entire body screamed in soreness.

I rolled to the side in a desperate attempt to catch some breath, but that only opened my face and stomach to their stomping and kicking.

Faintly, I heard someone say, "That's enough. Stop now, and I'll let this slide. So just graciously return what you stole."

"Who the hell are you?" big, fat, and dumb said blankly.

I glanced through an eyeful of shoe to hazily see the figure of a fairly pretty girl standing in the alley. She was about my age and height, with long, flowing white hair, and fancy robes draped across her body. She carried a shield on her hip, and she had a kind, although somewhat worried, countenance. "Please," she intoned, "it's important to me. "I'll give up on the other stuff, but I can't let you have that. Be good and hand it over, please."

Big, fat, and dumb pointed down at me. "You didn't come to save this kid...?"

"What strange clothes he has... If you were to ask me whether I have any connection with him, I'd have to say no." At this information, the thugs all let out a collective sigh of relief.

"Then you've got no business with us!" my tormentors growled. "If someone stole from you, it was probably that brat who just ran by!"

The midget spoke up, pointing behind us. "Yeah, that way! She went that way!"

The silver-haired young woman hummed. "They don't seem to be lying... Well, thanks anyway. I'd better hurry after her!" To my horror, and the thugs' relief, she proceeded to run right past us... but then she slowed down and turned around to face us again. "But regardless of that, I can't overlook what's going on here."

And as the last of my consciousness faded, I saw her reach her hand out, and ice begin to form in her palm.

 _Whoa... magic exists in this world after all... so cool!_ was my last thought before my vision went dark.

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 **Author's Notes: For those of you who noticed it, yes, Subaru's personality has been changed a little. Because it provides for great character development, though, I decided to make him still be rather selfish and prideful initially, as you can tell from some of the dialogue. He still expects this world to revolve around him, and he easily gets pissed at those he thinks are looking down on him. This character arc will be resolved, but perhaps a bit quicker than in the actual series, and he won't pull any shit that he does in episodes 12-15 in the anime as a result. Granted, there will still be some conflict between him and other characters at that time, but not as extremely violent outlashing as it was.**

 **Also, for those of you here for Subaru x Rem, before you get to thinking that I'm still having him crush on Emilia because he thought she was pretty, no. As Puck would say, that was just an instinctive male reaction.**

 **All that being said, I'm glad this had such a quick and large reception right off the bat! I honestly did not expect this to get as popular as it became, since ReZero has such a small amount of fics right now. But anyway, for those of you who haven't yet, if you like this story, feel free to drop a follow and a favorite, and don't forget to leave a review! I always appreciate the awesome feedback from you guys!**

 **-TheRealEvanSG**


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